Currently available isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO) products contain isomaltose, panose, isomaltotriose, isomaltotetraose, isomaltopentaose, isomaltohexaose, etc., but do not contain isomaltulose.
Isomaltooligosaccharides are oligosaccharides that exhibit excellent physiological activity in the human body, e.g., they help intestinal regulation (causes the proliferation of beneficial enteric bacteria) and aid in the improvement of constipation, etc. Isomaltooligosaccharides are mainly used to impart health functionality to dairy products and are functional saccharide substances that dominate the oligosaccharide markets in Japan and Korea.
Currently, isomaltooligosaccharides are produced by using starch as a raw material through liquefaction and saccharification, followed by purification including filtration, decolorization, ion-exchange, evaporation and the like. The conventional processes of preparing IMO comprise the saccharification of an liquefaction solution obtained by liquefying starch, where the saccharification may be performed by carrying out maltose saccharification (1st saccharification) and isomaltooligosaccharide saccharification (2nd saccharification) separately and sequentially as shown in FIG. 1 or by carrying out maltose saccharification and isomaltooligosaccharide saccharification simultaneously as shown in FIG. 2.
In addition, alpha-amylase may be used as a liquefaction enzyme, beta-amylase and pullulanase are used as a maltose saccharification enzyme, and transglucosidase may be used as an isomaltooligosaccharide saccharification enzyme.
Further, isomaltulose, which is also called palatinose, is a disaccharide in which dextrose and fructose are linked by an alpha-1,6 bond and is a sweetener ingredient that is non-cariogenic and slowly digested and absorbed.